1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a self-adjusting mechanical interconnect to enable information signals supplied to a first data bus from a remote computer to be transmitted via a data path to a second data bus to which one or more electronic price tags are connected to display the information signals. The self-adjusting interconnect has particular application in an electronic price tag system and is affixed to a shelf of a shelf-carrying gondola along which the electronic price tags are located so that information concerning goods stored on the shelf can be displayed to consumers.
2. Background Art
In U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08-565,733 filed Nov. 30, 1997, an electronic price tag system is disclosed having particular application in a retail store environment for use at a gondola which carries one or more detachable shelves having goods stored thereon for sale to the public. A remote computer transmits address, price, and other information to a master controller that is located at the gondola. The master controller decodes the information from the remote computer and, in turn, transmits the information to respective slave controllers located at each of the shelves of the gondola. Each slave controller is responsible for selectively accessing and energizing one of a plurality of electronic price tag modules located along the front of the shelf so as to cause information to be displayed concerning the goods that are stored on the shelf.
In many cases, the gondola that carries the detachable shelves on which the respective slave controllers will be located includes a pair of vertical mounting rails and a flat back plane extending between the rails. The data bus of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08-565,733 which places the master controller of the gondola in communication with the slave controllers of the shelves runs vertically along the back plane of the gondola so that when a shelf is attached to the mounting rails of the gondola, the slave controller of such shelf will be automatically aligned with and electrically connected to the vertical data bus along the back plane.
However, and depending upon the construction of the gondola, the distance between the shelf and the back plane of the gondola will typically vary from store-to-store. Therefore, there can be no certainty that a slave controller or its equivalent will be reliably connected to the vertical data bus when the shelf to which the slave controller is connected is attached to the mounting rails. As a consequence of the foregoing, the data path between the remote computer and the price tag modules of a conventional pricing system may be undesirably interrupted or broken. In addition, the slave controller of the conventional system may be damaged during an attempt to physically maneuver the shelf so as to place the slave controller thereof in electrical contact with the vertical data bus that runs along the back plane of the gondola. What is even more, signal buses are currently being interconnected manually rather than automatically which is tedious, time consuming, and may also lead to damage.